Editions of the Paston Letters

The medieval letters and documents were first published by John Fenn across some 5 volumes, beginning in 1789.

John Fenn, The Original letters, written during the reigns of Henry VI, Edward IV, and Richard III by various persons of rank or consequence, containing many curious anecdotes relative to that turbulent and bloody, but hitherto dark period of our history, vols. 1-4,1787 - 19; vol 5. 1823.

Since Fenn, there have been 3 key scholarly editions of the medieval letters.

The first was at the close of the 19th century by James Gardiner. In this edition, the material is presented in chronological order, along with miscellaneous items about life and times in 15th century England. Gairdner has made many corrections and additions to the medieval letters.

James Gardiner, The Paston letters, 1422-1509 A.D., (1872-75).

Then in the 1970s, Norman Davis published two volumes, where he arranged the correspondence en bloc. The intention was to showcase the collections of each of the 15 family members. The effect is to make individual Pastons to stand out more clearly. Arguably though, the collective family tale is harder to follow.

Most recently, Beadle and Richmond have completed the third volume of Davis's enterprise, which includes new records and documents (among other material, there is a significant addition to Fastolff related documents in this volume).

Richard Beadle and Colin Richmond, Paston Letters and Papers of the Fifteenth Century, - Part III, Early English Text Society, Supplementary Series 22 (Oxford, 2006).